Angry in the Great White North

Welcome readers from greenpartystrategy.com.  It's not often that I get a link from the Greens.  Pretty much never, come to think of it.  Still, nice to see you here.

As you might know, starting next month, Elizabeth May will no longer be the leader of Canada's Green Party.

Or that would be true if Elizabeth May and her pets on the Green Party council had any respect for the party's constitution:

A Green Party member wants to make a run for Leader Elizabeth May's job.

But Ms. May says the party's governing council has already decided there should be no leadership race until after the next federal election.

Sylvie Lemieux, a retired army lieutenant-colonel, announced at a party event near Guelph, Ont., this weekend that she wants a chance to lead the Greens. The Guelph Mercury reported that she intends to put forth a motion at the party's annual convention next month in Toronto calling for a leadership contest before the end of 2010.

According to the party's constitution, Ms. May's four-year term expires next month.

But Ms. May said Monday the Green Party council decided seven months ago that the rules around leadership needed to be changed and it made no sense to set four-year terms with no consideration given to election timing.

Will there be an election in the fall?  Well, there might be.  Better keep Elizabeth May as leader.  And if there isn't one in the fall, there might be one in the winter.  Better keep Elizabeth May as leader.  And if the winter passes without an election, then odds are there will be one in the spring.  Better keep Elizabeth May as leader. 

And so it goes.

Yes, the logic is self-serving, especially in an environment of minority governments.  An election could happen at any time.  The logic is also flawed.  The fact that an election could happen at any time means that having a leadership race now, as per the rules set out in the party constitution, is no better or worse than having a leadership race at any other time.

But flawed logic is one thing.  Elizabeth May seems to be downright delusional:

"There are several people who will run for leadership when there is a leadership race and by far the numbers of people who want to run for leadership don't want to have a leadership race before the next election. They don't think it will be in the best interests of the party," Ms. May told The Globe.

What the...?

Who does she think she's fooling?  If I thought I was a worthy leader for a party, presumably I would think I was a better leader than the current one.  Having me as leader is in the best interests of the party.  Full stop.  If I didn't think so, I would be supporting that current leader instead preparing a campaign to replace her.

So what sort of leadership candidate thinks he or she would be a better leader for the Green Party than Elizabeth May, but would be fine with Elizabeth May leading the Green Party through another expensive election?

An impending election would make a serious leadership candidate all the more eager to replace her, so that his or her superior skills as a party leader would result in Green Party victories.

And what if a miracle happened, and Elizabeth May, staying on as leader, won her seat?  Then that leadership candidate would have no hope of replacing Elizabeth May.  All those ideas that are better than Elizabeth May's, that would result in a stronger and more effective Green Party, would never be implemented.

The idea that potential leadership candidates are happy to sit back and let Elizabeth May run in yet another election, after her four-year term has expired, is just so bizarre that I am convinced that it has popped out of her fevered imagination.

Or she's just making it up.

Either way, there are no such candidates.  There can't be.  Any real leadership candidate in the Green Party wants that leadership contest to happen, on schedule, before an election regardless of how close that election might be, because that leadership candidate knows the Green Party will do better under his or her leadership.  It's called having the courage of your convictions.

Coming up with excuses to avoid a leadership campaign shows a marked lack of courage on the part of Elizabeth May.

Prove me wrong, Elizabeth May.  Have the courage to name some names.  You said there are several such candidates, and that "by far" most want you to stay on for another election.  Give me three names.  Name three serious leadership contenders who will stand up and say to the Green Party membership, "I think I would be a better leader for the Green Party than Elizabeth May, and I want to replace her.  However, I want the Green Party to fight the next election under the leadership of someone I think is less qualified than me.  I hope that this endorsement of someone I think ought to be replaced by me does not affect my support during a leadership campaign, whenever Elizabeth May thinks it's safe to have one."

What a wonderful endorsement of your leadership that would make.  Think how impressive that would sound to Canadians, to hear the Green Party uniting in such an amazing way behind you.

Three names, that's all.  OK, two names then.  One name?  Initials?  Anything?

Yeah.  Right.

Like I said, Elizabeth May is either delusional, or mendacious.  Either way, I'm not falling for it.

The other theory:  Some people have pointed out that Elizabeth May's opponents want her to stay on as leader in order to lose the next election and so be done with her.  I don't give this theory much weight.  First of all, it's the theory that fits what we've seen in the Liberal Party, with some factions pushing for an election that the Liberals will lose.  This make sense because according to their constitution, the only way to get rid of Michael Ignatieff is at the mandatory leadership review after an election loss.  Elizabeth May's opponents don't have to resort to this sort of thing.  They just have to follow the Green Party's rules as they are right now.  No expensive election required.  Second, in all likelihood Michael Ignatieff's hold on the Liberal Party leadership will be weakened as a result of the next election (hence the push by some Liberals for an election).  It is quite possible, however, that Elizabeth May's hold on the Green Party leadership will be strengthened, in particular if she polls well, which she very well might.  If she digs in her heels after a strong showing in the next election, continuing to ignore party constitution in order to stay on as leader, she might very well get away with it.  I don't see waiting as something that helps her opponents.